Taking Control of My Work and Getting Back to Who I Am

Yeah, it seems that I’m always changing up companies. I admit I do that a lot. Yes, it seems like I can’t make up my mind with what I’m doing. Believe it or not, I know what I’m doing; there’s a method to my madness. You’re probably even wondering how much money I’m spending with these companies. The answer to that is none of your business, so stop trying to count my money.

But this is a big move and it’s my way of adjusting and better managing my business. First, as I mentioned in last night’s Sunday Night Thoughts, I’m no longer operating Phoenix Endeavors, Inc. As of June 29, 2018, I’ve been operating under The Mad Writer Project, LLC. As the name implies (as unorthodox and strange as it might sound) I’m using this company for my writing projects from now on.

The name comes from the name of my blog, The Diary of a Mad Writer. It’s something that was in the making for at least a month, but processing in my mind for a while. I was getting tired of operating a corporation (I prefer LLCs over corporations because of their flexibility). Having a corporation for the type of business that I’m running was overkill to me (I’ve told this to a lot of people). You might wonder why I even formed a corporation in the first place (if you even care). Honestly, even though I’ve spent years avoiding them, I just want to see how it was like.

I also found out that there was a Phoenix Endeavors, LLC in Minnesota. I was considering changing the corporation to Phoenix Endeavors, LLC (because I really liked the name Phoenix and I loved the logo that was designed for my corporation; I didn’t want to let it go), but when I made this discovery of the Minnesota company, I decided to go with a totally new name to avoid possible trademark conflicts and litigations. I also realized that it was probably confusing people as far as searching online, because every time I did a search for Phoenix Endeavors, the Minnesota company was always the one that came up.

You might be wondering why I didn’t just keep the name Phoenix and use it in another way. I actually did come up with another Phoenix name and was a week or two away from filing the paperwork for the new company with that name. But I realized that so many companies were using the name Phoenix, I needed to come up with something more unique. That’s how The Mad Writer Project was born.

While I’m still doing writing projects under this new company, I’m no longer reaching out to find writing projects; at least not at this time. Current writing projects that I secured under Phoenix Endeavors I’m still working with. But until things are finalized completely with the set up of this new company, I’m not searching for writing projects right now. However, I will take on projects that people approach me with and that they benefit me and my overall business.

In case for some unexplained reason, you’re wondering why I even form business entities in the first place, it’s because I want to be seen as a serious business, not some fly-by-night guy writing stuff just for the hell of it. I wouldn’t recommend everyone to form a LLC or corporation (you should really talk to a tax advisor and an attorney before you do; my tax guy really broke down the benefits that are at my disposal with this current LLC that I didn’t know or understand before), in the direction that I’m going, it’s important that I’m already prepared.

The Mad Writer Project, LLC is operated totally different from how my corporation, or any business entity I’ve ever had, worked. While I won’t go into specifics, I will tell you that it was a big test for me, because I had to do things that I’ve never done before. Also with this new company, I’m going back to focusing more on me and my own projects, something that I wasn’t doing as much with Phoenix Endeavors.

I was becoming increasingly disgruntled with how I was spending more time trying to find content writing work from clients than focusing more on my own creative and content writing. It wasn’t because I wasn’t finding work. It was more like I felt like I was neglecting a key part of who I was and why I started writing in the first place.

This company is doing something different to push out my work. I won’t talk about it now, but you’ll see everything out full force in a couple of months. That’s because I’m still trying to finalize the details of how this will work, so I don’t want to put out things prematurely. The only detail I can say is that with this company I’m exercising an even greater control over the direction of my work than I have done in the past.

I’ve learned a lot about the writing business in the last few years, especially since I moved to Atlanta. I’ve learned that a lot of people who call themselves experts wanted me to water down my work, or never really stood behind my work and never understood or accepted my vision, so I have to take control and do it myself. For the first time in a long time, I’m going back to focusing on putting my vision out myself. I’m going back to the basics before I became fascinated with the ideas of having managers and agents and searching for publishing companies that would give me a chance.

I’m going back to the days where I wasn’t chasing down publications and clients to get them to let me write an article for them. That doesn’t mean that I’m closed to the idea and I wouldn’t jump on a good opportunity if it presented itself. All I’m saying is that in order to fulfill my overall goal and vision, I have to return back to how I started and focus on me. That’s the only way I can continue to grow my business and keep providing great work to the world.

I’m still contributing to bphope.com. I will continue to write for them until they tell me I’m not needed anymore. I’m still going to provide work to Arrivedo.com, but I’m taking a step back from it so I can focus on the work coming out of The Mad Writer Project, LLC and bphope.com.

Luckily, I’m not doing this thing alone. Like I said, I won’t go into the specifics of how The Mad Writer Project, LLC is operated, but just know that I have people in place who fully supports my vision and want to make it come to life as much as I do.

In the meanwhile, if you’re interested in working with me, go to the Booking page. If you’ll notice, I’ve been making a lot of changes to the website without warning, so keep following this site as more changes will be made over the next month. Some of them will be subtle (I’ve been making subtle changes for about two weeks now, like how I got rid of the Writing Services page), while some will be drastic (like how I’m announcing my move on this blog).

I’m done talking for now. I’ve already said a lot. Just keep posted. The full details of The Mad Writer Project, LLC will be out before you know it. Thank you for your continued support as I continue this journey.

Published by JB Burrage

I'm a Meridian, Mississippi native, and proud Army veteran. I currently live somewhere in the great metropolis of Atlanta, because I wanted to be close to home while still being close to pretty city buildings and lights. Oh...also so I could finally set up shop somewhere, and Atlanta was the perfect place to set up while still living in the South. As a creative writer, I'm using this blog/website as an outreach for the promotion of my various work, such as books and plays, as well as address mental health issues. I'm also running a company called The Mad Writer Project, LLC, which publishes and develop my various work.
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